


Some Days I Just Can't Get Enough

by spockandawe



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Early in Canon, Historical, M/M, Siblings, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockandawe/pseuds/spockandawe
Summary: When it comes to your brother, you aren’t exactly in the mood for patience. Doubly so when it comes to his new pet bodyguard. You’re still irritated at the idea that Galvatron would ever accept a bodyguard in the first place, never mind claiming that this one isindispensableand needs to accompany him everywhere. You’ve been gone for a few millennia, yes, but you know Galvatron’s history as well as you know your own, and you weren’t gone that long, and you want to know how he ever got thissoft.





	Some Days I Just Can't Get Enough

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://spockandawe.tumblr.com/post/183713792236/some-days-i-just-cant-get-enough-spockandawe)

When it comes to your brother, you aren’t exactly in the mood for patience. Doubly so when it comes to his new pet bodyguard. You’re still irritated at the idea that Galvatron would ever accept a bodyguard in the first place, never mind claiming that this one is  _ indispensable _ and needs to accompany him everywhere. You’ve been gone for a few millennia, yes, but you know Galvatron’s history as well as you know your own, and you weren’t gone that long, and you want to know how he ever got this  _ soft. _

“Arcee?” says the bodyguard. Cyclonus. Whatever his name is.

You’ve been staring. It’s probably rude. Do you care? Absolutely not. You say, “What do you want.”

He just watches you back. Does he want to make this a contest? If he does, he’s an even bigger idiot than he looks. There’s a meeting happening around you, but you’re not paying attention. It’s just Galvatron’s lieutenants, or whoever they are, sorting out whatever business Megatronus wants your brother to handle. You don’t care. The hierarchy is tedious, the business is  _ more  _ tedious. You’re just here because Solus sent you with a message for Megatronus, and because Megatronus said you should visit your brother while he sorts out a reply. You’re already full of regrets for agreeing to any of this.

There’s an argument happening off to your side, but you aren’t paying attention. You’re still studying Cyclonus. He’s studying you back. You don’t like him. There’s something...  _ off  _ about this whole situation.

You’ve been aggressively ignoring the meeting, but you hear your brother roar,  _ “I will tear every servo from every limb of your body!” _

You don’t move, you’re not impressed. But Cyclonus turns immediately, pushing up from the table and stepping around the seated mechs. “Lord Galvatron—”

_ Lord _ Galvatron. That’s just sad. You’re going to have to ask your brother if he makes his bodyguard hold his hand when he visits a medic. 

Your brother is still yelling, your entertainment is gone, and everybody else is thoroughly distracted. So you give in and look over at him. This is a nice little tantrum he’s got going. He shattered the glass he was drinking from, for starters, and you can hear the hum of his cannon charging up.

The mech Galvatron is shouting at is flinching back, casting an appealing look at— Cyclonus. Cyclonus is standing at Galvatron’s shoulder already, reaching out one hand for his cannon arm, saying something you can’t quite hear over all the yelling. Galvatron is still going on about ‘tear out your spark, crush your processor’ and such, but you’re looking at everyone else sitting at the table.  _ All _ of them are watching Cyclonus. Maybe he’s got some  _ actual  _ use after all, though if your brother needs someone to trail along behind him and  _ calm him down,  _ that’s pathetic in a whole different way.

Whatever Cyclonus is saying, the other mech is emboldened enough to lean forward and begin, “My apologies, but this is only the information brought back by the advance scouts—”

Galvatron cuts him off, shouting, “I will  _ slag you down  _ and obliterate you  _ so completely _ your scouts will never know you used to be a living mech!”

At least watching the meeting implode is more entertaining than the meeting was in the first place. You’re settling in to enjoy the show when the other mechs around the table start to push back and slink away. The one beside you touches your arm, and before you can decide how you want to make her regret that, she leans in and whispers, “It’s best to let Cyclonus calm Lord Galvatron down in private when he’s like this.”

You could say plenty of things about your brother throwing  _ tantrums,  _ and needing to be coddled through those tantrums like a half-forged newspark, but for now, you let her urge you up from your seat and out of the room. You trail along behind the other mechs, watching your brother over your shoulder.

Cyclonus is still close against Galvatron’s side, one hand on your brother’s cannon, pressing his arm downward. The door shuts before you properly hear what he’s saying. You ignore the other mechs when they invite you to come into the city with them. You stand there in the hallway for a few kliks, arms crossed, glaring at the door. In Caminus, you might be able to hear some conversation through the door, but Kathikon is built too sturdily for you to eavesdrop that way. And you refuse to look that curious where Galvatron might catch you.

You don’t make any progress figuring out what you’re missing for the rest of the day. The next day, you’re keeping a closer eye on Galvatron than before but he seems— normal. You’ve known him for too long for him to hide a change like this from you. You go where he goes, like you’ve been doing throughout your visit, but instead of just idly antagonizing Cyclonus, you keep an optic on your brother. He’s himself. Even when he’s angry, it’s a controlled, directed anger. Just like it’s always been. 

Until you’re walking with him down a hall—ignoring each other in company instead of from a distance—with Cyclonus trailing behind you, when Cyclonus says quietly, “Lord Galvatron, have you eaten today?”

_ Please.  _ That’s just sad. Galvatron seems to agree, because he looks back over his shoulder and snaps, “It’s none of your concern.”

There’s a few short nanokliks of peace and quiet. Then Cyclonus says, “Lord Galvatron, you should—”

“Is it your place to criticize my decisions?”

“Lord Galvatron, I only—”

_ “I should obliterate you for your presumption!!” _

You aren’t sure which side of this equation is more pathetic. They deserve each other. Galvatron rounds on Cyclonus, who doesn’t back down, but holds up his hands, placating, and says quiet, measured things that are completely drowned out by the shouting. You cross your arms and lean against the wall, waiting for this waste of time to be over. Other mechs pass, walking through the hall, and some of them give the argument a curious look, but none of them look particularly surprised.

You’re starting to tune out the whole fight, but your attention is pulled back in when you hear Cyclonus say, “Come with me, and I’ll—”

And you notice he’s got Galvatron’s arm and is starting to urge him down the corridor, away from you. You push up off the wall and start to follow them. Cyclonus looks at you, and Galvatron turns, following his gaze, and sees you too. He snarls, “Leave us, or I’ll destroy you as well.”

You’d like to see him  _ try. _ Before you can call that out for the slag that it is, Cyclonus is already shepherding Galvatron away towards a side door, tapping the access pad too quickly for you to catch the code. You don’t push your way in with them, because you’re not that emotionally invested in how your brother decides to waste his life, but you watch them as they go. There’s something here you’re missing.

Galvatron glares at you as they step through the door, and snaps, “Interfere with me and feel my wrath!”

You don’t bother responding to that. If he thinks you’re supposed to take him seriously when he’s talking to  _ you  _ like this, he’s not just an idiot, he’s got fused cranial circuitry. Perhaps you should ask Megatronus if your brother has started bathing in plasma lakes. 

And you don’t see Galvatron or Cyclonus for the rest of that day either. When they show up again the next morning, the first thing you say is, “You’re worse at acting than you were in Protohex.”

He glares, drawing himself up with outrage. Is he going to fight you? You hope so. But you see him pull himself back under control and he says, almost calmly, “If you weren’t so clearly a fool, I would tear you limb from limb.”

You study him. And ignore Cyclonus studying  _ you. _ This? This is Galvatron. Later when he erupts in the middle of a meeting over a minor inconvenience, threatening extravagant amounts of bodily harm and saying he’ll kill everyone in the room unless they leave immediately, that is  _ not _ him. The delivery is all Galvatron, the  _ concept _ is very clearly him. But it all rings false. 

You let yourself be swept up with the other mechs and leave the room. And you settle in beside the door. This time, you’re not leaving until they come out. You do eye the vents you see on the walls—some of those are wide enough to fit your shoulders—but reluctantly decide against it. Climbing around in the internals of an unfamiliar Titan would just be asking for trouble. You address the wall, saying, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to open this door for me,” but you don’t get any response.

It’s more than a cycle before your brother and Cyclonus leave the room. Galvatron is standing in the door as it opens, looking back over his shoulder. His expression is just— if you didn’t know him better, you’d say it was  _ hilariously _ tender. But he catches sight of you, and then he just looks constipated

You hear Cyclonus murmuring, “We shouldn’t be—”

**_“Arcee!!”_** Galvatron roars. And like this, you’re willing to believe he _would_ make a serious effort to slag you, so you grin, wave, and head right out a window, engaging your stealth mods as you go.

You take immediate evasive action, which is good, because the two of them are right on your heels. But you’ve been in Kathikon for  _ days, _ if you couldn’t lose pursuit after this long to learn the city’s layout, you’d deserve to be scrapped. It’s just a few turns for you to lose them, but you still take your time heading back to your quarters. You take the scenic route through the city. It gives you some time to think about what’s happening here.  _ Something _ is happening, you know that for sure now. This isn’t just you imagining things and Galvatron changing while you’re apart. There’s something else.

Cyclonus is a little smarter than you’d thought, because he’s set himself up in the main hallway leading to your rooms. He’s got a line of sight on any approach you might have to your door, and even if you slipped around him, it’s possible Kathikon likes  _ him _ enough to open locked doors when he asks. Going through the vents would still be reckless. But it’s a nice day, so you just go back outside and scale the building. You don’t have anywhere else to be, so your brother and his pet can waste their day waiting for  _ you _ to show up, for a change.

You wake up the next morning and head straight to the first scheduled meeting of Galvatron’s day. You don’t  _ really  _ need to attend your brother’s meetings while you’re visiting, but you wouldn’t miss this for the world after yesterday. You’re feeling downright cheerful. Cyclonus, on the other hand, looks like he could have used a few more defrag cycles, and Galvatron glares at you nonstop from the moment he walks into the room.

Cyclonus is watching you closely, so you make a particular point of completely ignoring him. But really, you are paying close attention to everything Galvatron does. And when Megatronus enters the room and takes a seat, you have to stop yourself from grinning.

Galvatron glares even harder at you, if that’s possible, but when the meeting gets rolling, there aren’t any explosions of the sort you’ve been seeing for the last several days. The meeting is a long one, and tedious, and Galvatron is clearly in a foul mood. But every time you see the anger bubbling up, he pulls it back, keeps it focused, directed,  _ controlled.  _ There aren’t any descriptions of how he’ll dismember his lieutenants, no threats to kill everyone in the room. You prop your chin one one hand and watch him as he talks. You let yourself smile ever so slightly, just for the pleasure of watching his jaw twitch as he tries not to react.

Megatronus leaves, eventually. You start counting. It’s not even ten kliks before you see Galvatron start to work himself up again. After watching him be  _ himself,  _ it’s even more obvious this isn’t genuine. You roll your optics and don’t bother to interrupt. Instead, you go back to staring at Cyclonus. Now, he shifts minutely and avoids meeting your optics.  _ Hilarious. _

The build to meltdown is predictable. You’re bored of this game. You openly roll your optics as Galvatron escalates his way to ‘I will rip the cogs out of your body’ and threatens to tear Cyclonus apart, yes, fine, whatever. The acting is even worse now that you  _ know _ it’s acting. You’re embarrassed on behalf of all these idiots who take the whole thing at face value. You’re embarrassed on behalf of your  _ brother _ that he expects  _ anyone _ to believe this. The only indication he hasn’t completely lost his wits is that he had enough sense to wait until Megatronus was gone.

You let the crowd sweep you up again and drift with them towards the door. But before you exit the room, you activate every one of your stealth mods and slip off to the side so you’re standing out of the way in an empty corner. If they  _ knew _ you were here, they might still be able to see you, but Solus’s latest experimental tweaks have been very effective.

The moment the door shuts behind the last mech, Galvatron drops the tantrum. Cyclonus steps to the door, tapping the access pad to lock it. They’re both still for a moment, looking at each other across the room. Then Galvatron laughs and Cyclonus smiles, faintly, and they move to each other, meeting in an embrace. 

Pretty much what you were expecting. Galvatron kisses Cyclonus, deeply, one hand cupping the back of his helm, Cyclonus’s hands are already going for the ports in Galvatron’s hips, and okay, that’s enough, you really don’t need to see this.

You drop all your stealth mods at once and say, “Subtle.”

Cyclonus jumps and Galvatron freezes, they choke on the kiss, and you’re going to save copies of this memory and send the files to your brother whenever he torques you off. You can’t resist adding, “Is this just a once-a-day thing or are you also sneaking off to interface in storage closets whenever you have two spare kliks?”

Cyclonus looks intensely guilty, but Galvatron’s expression is turning murderous, so you think you’re going to make your escape before he can make good on that threat.

“Don’t mind me,” you tell them. “I’m on my way out. I wouldn’t  _ dream _ of interfering.”

You open the door and slip out before they can reply, and just to be safe, you take a few turns, go out a window, and slip into a different building, just in case your brother decides revenge is more important than jacking in. You suppose you’ve got your answer for  _ why _ Cyclonus is here, but you reserve the right to remain appalled that Galvatron expects anyone to believe he really needs a  _ bodyguard. _

You’re wondering whether it will bother your brother more if he meets up with you in a public setting… or if he can’t find you for the rest of the day. But you get a ping from Megatronus, and what do you know, perhaps you’ll even be able to leave the city before Galvatron can give you a piece of his mind. 

Megatronus tells you, “I have a reply for Solus.”

You nod. And smile to yourself. You might be out of Kathikon before your brother is even done with Cyclonus. “Understood. I can leave immediately.”

But Megatronus shakes his head. “No. I think… I’ll be delivering this in person. But I know you’ve only been here for a few days, and I would hate to cut your visit with Galvatron so short.”

He smiles at you, but you can tell where this is going and you’re torn between delight and horror and trying desperately to keep both off your face.

Megatronus says. “I’ll return to Caminus with you, along with a small escort. Where can I find your brother?”

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://spockandawe.tumblr.com/post/183713792236/some-days-i-just-cant-get-enough-spockandawe)


End file.
